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7.1.4 Reverb

Places a track in a space, from a small room to a large hall. Add depth to vocals, drums and instruments with size, decay and pre-delay.

Harmonic Pro Studio Lite Reverb plugin

Reverb is the sound of a space: the reflections that carry on after a sound, the way a voice rings in a hall or a snare fills a room. Use the Lite Reverb to give a dry recording some depth, push a sound further back in the mix, or make everything feel as if it was played in the same place.

7.1.4.1 Adding the Reverb

  1. Select the track.
  2. Right-click the Plugin Editor and choose Add Lite Plugin ▸ Reverb.
  3. Make sure its power button is on (orange).
  4. Play the track and set SIZE, DECAY and WET (see Quick start).

The Reverb is heard as soon as it is switched on: a new Reverb adds a medium amount of a mid-sized room. See Lite effects for how the rack works.

7.1.4.2 The window

  • Title bar: the drag dots (to move the Reverb in the rack), the power button and the name. It reads OFF on the right when the power is off.
  • Display: a picture of your settings, read from left to right in time. It changes as you turn the knobs.
    • The white line at the far left is the original sound. Its height follows DRY.
    • When pre-delay is set, a short line marked PRE shows the gap before the reverb starts.
    • The orange bars are the first reflections off the walls. A bigger SIZE spreads them further apart.
    • The orange curve is the reverb tail fading away. Its length follows DECAY and its height follows WET.
    • The DECAY time is also shown in the top-right corner.
  • Under the display: MIX, with the WET and DRY levels (for example 25 / 100).
  • Knobs: SIZE, DECAY and PRE-DLY on the top row; WET and DRY below.

7.1.4.3 Controls

ControlRangeDefaultWhat it does
SIZE0 to 100 %40 %How big the space is, from a small room at 0 % to a large hall at 100 %. Bigger spaces spread the reflections out and sound more open.
DECAY0.1 to 8 s1.5 sHow long the reverb takes to die away. Short for a tight room, long for a hall or a big ambient wash. The high frequencies fade a little faster than the lows, as they do in a real room.
PRE-DLY0 to 200 ms0 msA short gap between the original sound and the start of the reverb. A little pre-delay keeps a vocal or drum clear and upfront while the reverb blooms behind it.
WET0 to 100 %25 %How loud the reverb is.
DRY0 to 100 %100 %How loud the original sound is. Keep it at 100 % in most cases, and add reverb with WET.

7.1.4.4 Quick start

  1. Leave DRY at 100 % and WET at 25 %.
  2. Set SIZE and DECAY for the space you want: small and short for a room, large and long for a hall.
  3. Bring WET down until you can only just hear the reverb, then up a little. Reverb that is obvious on its own is often too much in the full mix.
  4. If the sound gets washed out or pushed too far back, add 20–40 ms of PRE-DLY.
Check in the mix. Set the amount of reverb while the other tracks are playing, not with the track soloed.

7.1.4.5 Good to know

  • Wide from any source. The reverb tail is spread across left and right, even on a mono track.
  • Decay stays put. Changing SIZE changes the character of the space, not how long it rings. DECAY sets that on its own.
  • Smooth changes. Turning SIZE while the track plays changes the space smoothly, without clicks.
  • Power off cuts the tail. Switching the Reverb off stops its tail at once. Switching it back on starts clean, with nothing left over from before.
  • No delay. The Reverb adds no latency to your track.
  • Off means locked. While the power is off, the knobs don’t respond. Turn the power on to make changes.
  • Knobs. Drag up or down to turn a knob, hold Shift as you start the drag for fine steps, and double-click a knob to reset it.
  • Automation. Right-click any knob to automate it, for example to raise WET at the end of a phrase.

7.1.4.6 Recipes

Natural vocal

SIZE 30–50 %, DECAY 1.0–1.8 s, PRE-DLY 20–40 ms, WET 15–25 %.

Tight drum room

SIZE 10–25 %, DECAY 0.3–0.7 s, PRE-DLY 0 ms, WET 15–30 %.

Big snare or ballad vocal

SIZE 70–90 %, DECAY 2–3 s, PRE-DLY 30–60 ms, WET 20–30 %.

Ambient wash

SIZE 100 %, DECAY 5–8 s, WET 40–60 %. Lower DRY for pads and textures that should float.

Just a touch of air

SIZE 20–30 %, DECAY 0.6–1.0 s, WET 8–12 %. Hardly heard, but the track sounds less dry.

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